Open Access

Ipatasertib exhibits anti‑tumorigenic effects and enhances sensitivity to paclitaxel in endometrial cancer in vitro and in vivo

  • Authors:
    • Jillian O'Donnell
    • Ziyi Zhao
    • Lindsey Buckingham
    • Tianran Hao
    • Hongyan Suo
    • Xin Zhang
    • Yali Fan
    • Catherine John
    • Boer Deng
    • Xiaochang Shen
    • Wenchuan Sun
    • Angeles Alvarez Secord
    • Chunxiao Zhou
    • Victoria L. Bae-Jump
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: July 28, 2023     https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2023.5551
  • Article Number: 103
  • Copyright: © O'Donnell et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer and one of the only cancers for which incidence and mortality is steadily increasing. Although curable with surgery in the early stages, endometrial cancer presents a significant clinical challenge in the metastatic and recurrent setting with few novel treatment strategies emerging in the past fifty years. Ipatasertib (IPAT) is an orally bioavailable pan‑AKT inhibitor, which targets all three AKT isoforms and has demonstrated anti‑tumor activity in pre‑clinical models, with clinical trials emerging for many cancer types. In the present study, the MTT assay was employed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of IPAT or IPAT in combination with paclitaxel (PTX) in endometrial cancer cell lines and primary cultures of endometrial cancer. The effect of IPAT and PTX on the growth of endometrial tumors was evaluated in a transgenic mouse model of endometrial cancer. Apoptosis was assessed using cleaved caspase assays and cellular stress was assessed using ROS, JC1 and tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester assays. The protein expression levels of markers of apoptosis and cellular stress, and DNA damage were evaluated using western blotting and immunohistochemistry. IPAT significantly inhibited cell proliferation, caused cell cycle G1 phase arrest, and induced cellular stress and mitochondrial apoptosis in a dose dependent manner in human endometrial cancer cell lines. Combined treatment with low doses of IPAT and PTX led to synergistic inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of cleaved caspase 3 activity in the human endometrial cancer cell lines and the primary cultures. Furthermore, IPAT effectively reduced tumor growth, accompanied by decreased protein expression levels of Ki67 and phosphorylation of S6 in the Lkb1fl/flp53fl/fl mouse model of endometrioid endometrial cancer. The combination of IPAT and PTX resulted in increased expression of phosphorylated‑H2AX and KIF14, markers of DNA damage and microtubule dysfunction respectively, as compared with IPAT alone, PTX alone or placebo‑treated mice. The results of the present study provide a biological rationale to evaluate IPAT and the combination of IPAT and PTX in future clinical trials for endometrial cancer.
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September-2023
Volume 63 Issue 3

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Online ISSN:1791-2423

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Spandidos Publications style
O'Donnell J, Zhao Z, Buckingham L, Hao T, Suo H, Zhang X, Fan Y, John C, Deng B, Shen X, Shen X, et al: Ipatasertib exhibits anti‑tumorigenic effects and enhances sensitivity to paclitaxel in endometrial cancer <em>in vitro</em> and <em>in vivo</em>. Int J Oncol 63: 103, 2023
APA
O'Donnell, J., Zhao, Z., Buckingham, L., Hao, T., Suo, H., Zhang, X. ... Bae-Jump, V.L. (2023). Ipatasertib exhibits anti‑tumorigenic effects and enhances sensitivity to paclitaxel in endometrial cancer <em>in vitro</em> and <em>in vivo</em>. International Journal of Oncology, 63, 103. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2023.5551
MLA
O'Donnell, J., Zhao, Z., Buckingham, L., Hao, T., Suo, H., Zhang, X., Fan, Y., John, C., Deng, B., Shen, X., Sun, W., Secord, A. A., Zhou, C., Bae-Jump, V. L."Ipatasertib exhibits anti‑tumorigenic effects and enhances sensitivity to paclitaxel in endometrial cancer <em>in vitro</em> and <em>in vivo</em>". International Journal of Oncology 63.3 (2023): 103.
Chicago
O'Donnell, J., Zhao, Z., Buckingham, L., Hao, T., Suo, H., Zhang, X., Fan, Y., John, C., Deng, B., Shen, X., Sun, W., Secord, A. A., Zhou, C., Bae-Jump, V. L."Ipatasertib exhibits anti‑tumorigenic effects and enhances sensitivity to paclitaxel in endometrial cancer <em>in vitro</em> and <em>in vivo</em>". International Journal of Oncology 63, no. 3 (2023): 103. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2023.5551